Abbie Betinis

Reviewed as "most audacious... edgy and thrilling," the music of composer Abbie Betinis (b. 1980) is being performed increasingly in the United States and abroad. Praised for its melodic impulse and unfolding dramatic design, her work is also characterized by rhythmic vigor and playfulness. Abbie has been commissioned by more than 40 music organizations including the American Suzuki Foundation, Cantus, Cornell University Chorus, and the Dale Warland Singers.

A 2009 McKnight Artist Fellow, Abbie has also received grants and awards from the American Composers Forum, ASCAP, Jerome Foundation, Minnesota Music Educators Association, and the University of Minnesota. Her work is represented on six commercially-available recordings, and is published by Augsburg Fortress, Graphite Publishing, Kjos, Santa Barbara Music Publishing, and in G. Schirmer's Dale Warland Series. In 2006, Abbie launched a self-publishing company, and now markets and distributes her own scores internationally through her website.

Since 2001, Minnesota Public Radio has partnered with American Public Media to record and premiere Abbie's annual, original Christmas carol (written in the tradition of her great uncle, composer Alfred Burt) to an estimated listening audience of 800,000. National Public Radio and Public Radio International have aired her performances by the Dale Warland Singers, Philadelphia Singers and The Rose Ensemble in national broadcasts. Interviews with Abbie are featured alongside Dale Warland, Dominick Argento, and René Clausen in the documentary "Never Stop Singing" (2009), an examination of the choral music tradition in Minnesota.

Abbie holds a BA from St. Olaf College, MA in music composition from the University of Minnesota, and has done post-graduate work in Paris, France through the European American Musical Alliance studying harmony and counterpoint in the tradition of Nadia Boulanger. Since 2005, Abbie has been a Composer-in-Residence for The Schubert Club in St. Paul, Minnesota. She has also held residencies with The Singers—Minnesota Choral Artists and The Rose Ensemble. She lives in St. Paul.